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Tickets are on sale for the 2026 Martin Luther King Day Brunch, which will be held Monday, Jan. 19, at the Las Cruces Convention Center, 680 E. University Ave. Tickets are $50 each and are available online at naacpdac.org or by calling 575-635-7538. Tickets will also be available at the door. Doors open at 10:30 a.m. The event begins at 11 a.m.
The brunch is sponsored by the Doña Ana Branch of the NAACP and celebrates the legacy of civil rights activist and Baptist minister Martin Luther King, Jr. King was born Jan. 15, 1929, in Atlanta, Georgia. He was assassinated April 4, 1968, in Memphis, Tennessee.
“MLK Day celebrates Dr. King's legacy by uniting communities around equality, justice, and service,” said NAACP-DAC President Bobbie Green, Ph.D. “Each year, NAACP-DAC commemorates Dr. King’s birthday with community events. This year’s theme is ‘the fierce urgency of now,’ which is taken from Dr. King’s March on Washington speech on Aug. 28, 1963, at the Lincoln Memorial.
“We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of now,” King said in that speech. “This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy.”
“Dr. King delivered this message more than 62 years ago, yet it continues to resonate today,” Green said. “Never has there been more urgency for citizens to stand up and take meaningful action toward social change. By embracing this call, we honor Dr. King's vision and reaffirm our commitment to building a more inclusive and equitable society.”
This year’s MLK Day keynote speaker is Leon Howard, executive director of ACLU-New Mexico. Howard was appointed to the position last June, succeeding Peter Simonson, who resigned in September 2024 after 24 years as executive director. Howard, a graduate of the University of New Mexico School of Law, is a civil rights litigator in Albuquerque.
“We appreciate ACLU-NM's efforts to protect constitutional rights in the U.S.,” Green said. “Through legal, educational, and policy action, the NAACP and the ACLU advance social justice and defend civil rights for all. This event will be the first of many collaborations in 2026.”
As part of the MLK celebration, NAACP-DAC and the Federation of Democratic Women of Doña Ana County are co-sponsoring “Conversations with Legislators” at 2 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 17, 2026, at Hotel Encanto, 705 S. Telshor Blvd. The event is free and open to the public. The New Mexico Legislature begins a 30-day session Jan. 20 in Santa Fe.
The NAACP-DAC meets at 10 a.m. the third Saturday of each month at Unitarian Universalist Church, 2000 S. Solano Drive in Las Cruces. Meetings are also lived streamed via Zoom and are open to the public.
